I forgive you
by Talented but Lazy
Summary: Mondo spends an afternoon with his best friend


_Based on a dream my non-dangan-ronpa fan friend had._

* * *

Kiyotaka was sitting in the changing room, kind of annoyed.

Glanced at his watch. It was 2:30 pm. Mondo was supposed to be there at exactly 2 pm.

Finally his best friend's tall figure entered through the door and he was about to comment that Mondo was late, but then he looked at his watch again and it was 1:56 pm. He must've not seen it right.

'Aniki! You've come for our weekly workout! Let's do our best today!' Kiyotaka greeted him as he jumped off his seat and walking to Mondo with arms wide open.

'Y-yeah... Look, how about you go in there till I get ready?'

'Of course! But don't take too long!' Kiyotaka strode away past him, still grinning widely.

When Mondo walked into the main room, Kiyotaka was preparing the bench press. The gang leader went slightly pale and rushed over to his best friend.

'Is something wrong?' Kiyotaka asked when Mondo stopped him from lying on the bench.

'No, don't worry but... uh...'

'What is it?'

'I kind of...' Mondo looked away, rubbing his left shoulder kind of demonstratively. 'Can't lift right now. Hurt my shoulder.'

Kiyotaka looked at his shoulder and touched it gently.

'Does it hurt a lot? Shouldn't we get you to a medic?'

'Nah, it only hurts when I gotta lift something. Should be good as new in a week.'

'Gang stuff again?' Kiyotaka asked, slightly squinting.

'No, I was uh... helping Yamada with his new desk.'

'Ah.' That seemed to calm him down. 'Well, I can still—'

'We can't make it a challenge if I can't lift too.' Mondo quickly interrupted him, his voice kind of raised, giving away his nervousness.

To his luck, the other boy didn't notice that too. Things were going well.

Mondo persuaded him to use the running track instead, and they spent the next hour trying to outrun each other, of course taking occasional breaks.

After that they sat on a bench and talked, joking and laughing, time passing unnoticeably, and the light outside becoming dimmer as sunset approached.

There were less people in the room, and Mondo felt calm, confident even. He risked closing his eyes for a bit more than a moment and when he opened them, Kiyotaka was still next to him, smiling widely.

'I'm very happy to spend another wonderful afternoon with you, aniki!' He announced.

'Me too...' Mondo replied, returning as big a smile as he could muster.

Kiyotaka looked at his watch, which showed 1:56 pm, and jumped to his feet. 'Oh my, 5 pm already? It's time to head home, don't you think?'

'Why don't we stay a bit—'

'I told my parents I would be home by 5:30, and I cannot be late.'

'Well in that case, goodbye. I wanna stay a bit more.'

'That's fine, but don't stay too late! See you tomorrow at school!' The hall monitor waved and turned around towards the changing rooms.  
Kiyotaka had barely made two steps when Mondo put his hands over his face. He didn't even try to stop the tears that streamed from his eyes.

Because he wasn't sitting on a bench. He was sitting on the body of a fallen pillar.

The walls weren't clean and white, instead covered in graffiti, paint peeling off here and there.

Nobody was there besides Mondo, making the place eerily quiet.

The warm reddish light of the sunset was replaced by pale light peeking from the broken windows.

This was no longer a fitness centre, it had been abandoned for years.

* * *

Despite what Kiyotaka himself saw, it was actually not later than 2 pm. However, it was winter, and the days were short.

Still, Mondo had enough time to visit him again, in another place.

First he stopped to buy flowers, stopping on a nice bouquet of pink carnations, then he went to the cemetery.

He found the white marble headstone he'd helped buy a few years ago, which adorned the name Kiyotaka Ishimaru.

He brushed the snow off the stone and placed the flowers in front of it.

'Hey there.' he said. He'd done this so many times he didn't really feel foolish anymore talking to a grave. But it still hurt so much.

'I haven't visited you here in a while, eh? Well, I went to that place today. Spent some time with... well, you. Felt like a few hours, though it was just one. I wonder how you do that.

'I love spending time with you, but... you never remember what I say between visits... I'm sure you aren't happy, stuck here. How do I help you go on...?'

Right then, a gust of wind appeared out of seemingly nowhere, and removed some of the snow in front of the headstone.

Mondo saw it had brushed off snow to the ground, leaving the words _'I forgive you'_ in Kiyotaka's handwriting.

He spent some more time there, staring at the written. It started snowing again, but he only left when the wind became too strong.

The words on the ground stood, however, as if something kept the snow around them away.

* * *

Finally at home, Mondo took off his coat, not bothering with the rest of his clothes, falling heavily into his cold bed.

Thank god he had the next day off. He didn't really see himself working.

He reached for the old newspaper on his night stand.

Mondo couldn't count how many times he'd read the article over the 5 years since its publication.

It wasn't long, too short even, for how much pain it carried for him.

_**'Teenage boy goes to work out, meets death**'_  
_'Today, the 22nd of June, a horrible tragedy struck local fitness centre - 17-year-old K. Ishimaru, honourable student, died in a freak accident while working out on a bench press. Investigation is still on process, but it is suspected that the boy was killed due to an attempted assault on Mondo Oowada, the leader of the biggest street gang in Japan.'_

The piece of paper fell on the floor, dropped by Mondo.

It was his fault his best friend was on the bench instead of him, and he couldn't go on to the next life. He obviously didn't know he was dead.

Mondo had tried to free him, but nothing he'd try would work. Kiyotaka's ghost would become confused, worried, relive his death, and disappear...

Nobody could help him. They'd all think he's just went crazy.

All he could do was try and hope next time would be better.

He owed his second brother at least that.

* * *

_Note: The pink carnation means "I'll never forget you"._


End file.
